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Comment by liamgooding | Hacker News Reader

Why would you want to file patents on a software startup anyway?

Whatever you think you've invented, 9 teenagers are right now, independently making the same thing.

Patents in software startups are a waste of money and a huge distraction. In the UK there will soon be tax breaks, but you need to make a profit to worry about those

p.s. if you have a hardware product that genuinely is a good fit for a patent, get out of the coworking space. Try maker spaces that are more suited and will have better processes in place to handle this

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There are a few different reasons someone might want a software patent at a startup stage. Investors view Patents as an Asset, which can increase your value in their eyes. Legally, they can be leveraged (once granted) to protect a particularly novel idea and minimize competition. They can also be used defensively, protecting you from being sued. They can also be licensed, which means you could potentially generate income.

How much value they have, or if the system works properly is a different conversation entirely. My own personal stance, I'm interested in patents for defensive measures only. Meaning, if someone else tries to sue me over something I created (saying they created it), I have something on my side to protect me.

I agree with your sentiment. IMHO, being first to market is more important, and the attorney who did the presentation also mentioned that all IP aside, getting something done and being far ahead of the competition is a strategy that he sees many successful clients take. However, he recommended both getting a patent and being first to market.

And as much as I might not care, and be of the opinion that patents are broken system which I won't mess with. It is not the case for everyone. I am helping to organize a co-working/incubator space in my local community and if it is indeed true that you can't file a patent once you've used the co-working space to work out of, then the potential members should at least be ware. I'm hoping other HNers have experience on this and may have a better answer than not participating in a co-working space.

Seems there is possible misunderstanding of "software" definition. Any software written for modern processors are interpreted as some binary code... so it is one astronomical number. Probably there are even more than 9 teenagers "looking for their lucky numbers", but that is not what inventors are trying to patent :D. Look at what large corporations are working on and You will see the picture of what can be patented and what inventions will be valuable in near future. But that is grown-ups field, not teenagers, who can't imagine software startup inventing inventions that could be valuable to others ;).

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